eBay Coming to Russia

World-leading online auction and shopping website eBay is planning to open a Russia-based company under the name of eBay Marketplaces.

Vladimir Dolgov, who has managed the Russian division of Google for the last six years, is set to head eBay's new Russia project, three sources in major IT firms told the Vedomosti business daily Wednesday.

eBay has long weighed entering the domestic market.

In 2010, the company expanded the reach of its eBay International Market project, launching a dedicated Russian-language shopping site where Russian customers could browse, compare and buy goods all over the globe.

But broader expansion plans were delayed by the fact that PayPal, the online payment system eBay uses, until recently operated under restricted terms in Russia, preventing eBay customers from receiving payments directly to their bank accounts.

No normalization of ties between Ukraine and Russia is likely unless the region of Crimea, now under Russian control, is returned to Kiev's sovereignty, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Tuesday.

Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin and Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis, has been shot dead outside the Kremlin in a murder that underscored the risks taken by the Russian opposition.

The murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov has dampened any hope for a peaceful political transition in Russia away from President Vladimir Putin's government, Garry Kasparov, a prominent opposition voice, has said.

A spokesperson for Moscow's information technology department has denied media reports that some of the surveillance cameras around the Kremlin had been switched off at the time of Boris Nemtsov's murder.

The U.S. State Department and FBI have announced a $3 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Russian Yevgeny Bogachev, the highest bounty U.S. authorities have ever offered in a cyber case.